UFC 144's Ryan Bader: 'Rampage' won't slam me

TOKYO – Quinton Jackson (32-9 MMA, 7-3 UFC) says the old ‘Rampage’ is coming out for UFC 144, and that means the kind of high-flying action that first made him a star.

Ryan Bader (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) welcomes that when they meet Saturday in the co-main draw of the pay-per-view event, but he’s not going to fall prey to Jackson’s specialties.

And that means no getting slammed to the mat.

“I’m a couple-time All-American,” Bader said of his NCAA Division I wrestling past. “If he thinks he’s just going to come in there and pick me up and slam me, that’s just not going to happen.”

UFC 144 takes place Saturday at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. The event’s seven-fight main card airs live on pay-per-view while preliminary-card fights air on FX and stream on Facebook.

Bader said he and his training parnters changed several things in his camp in preparation for the fight, which could place him back in the top 10 after back-to-back losses robbed him of his luster.

“We got a new coaching staff, a new head coach and a new boxing coach,” he told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “Instead of us running our camp, we actually have somebody in there running our camp. We’re not overtraining, which being a wrestler, you never knew what overtraining was.

“It feels a lot better. And (we do) game planning down to the minute – drilling it and bringing it in training. That’s a big thing that I’ve learned. I’ve felt like I’ve grown more in these last four months than I have in the last four years.”

A knockout win over Jason Brilz at UFC 139 put Bader back on the right track, and now the former Arizona State wrestler looks to make it two in a row.

Bader is well aware of the power in Jackson’s hands and isn’t planning on going toe to toe with the former champ. Instead, he’s thinking about the kind of attack used by current light-heavyweight champ Jon Jones when he fought Jackson at UFC 135 this past September. Rather than let Jackson get comfortable on his feet and put together combinations, Bader wants to keep him off-balance.

“I think it’s just making him move and not letting him get in his comfort zone,” Bader said. “You let him do that, and he’ll hit you all day. So (it’s) mixing things up so he gets discouraged and tired. I’m in shape. I hope he’s in shape.”

However, the three-round fight represents another big challenge for Bader, who has seen the level of competition rise steeply in the past two years of his career. Jackson, a former star in the now-defunct PRIDE Fighting Championships, is featured heavily in the promotion of UFC 144 and is a solid favorite going into the fight. Prior to his loss to Jones, Jackson earned plodding victories over former champ Lyoto Machida and Matt Hamill. Former wrestling standout Hamill was unable to get him to the mat, which doesn’t bode well for Bader’s strength.

But the winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 8″ said he’s prepared anywhere the fight goes.

“For me, I know what I’ve got to go in there and do,” Bader said. “We’ve trained for the best ‘Rampage’ that’s ever fought. I hope it is. I hope I can go out there and beat that ‘Rampage.’

“It doesn’t really matter what he’s bringing to the table. We know he’s tough, we know he hits hard, we know he has great hips, and he’s a great fighter. He’s going to be that. It doesn’t matter if he tries a few more takedowns. We’re going to be ready from him.”

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?